The Life and Times of Terra
by ravengal
Summary: One shot. Beast Boy thought all hope was lost when Terra forgot the past in Things Change... but what happens when an incident occurs and she remembers all, even her motives for joining Slade? Rated T to be safe.


Author's note: This is my tribute to Terra, the earth-moving girl who has both lovers and haters. I'm neither. I liked her when she was the Teen Titans' friend, but didn't when she was their enemy, then liked her again when she realised her mistakes.

This was an idea I came up with to better understand her motives for the things she did. I hope you like it. (Oh and I made up her name and her friends' names because, in Things Change, they don't have names.)

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A skinny girl with sunshine yellow hair and cerulean blue eyes known as Keira Hendrix wandered around the yard of Murakami School with her two best friends, Linda Summers, who had ginger hair, green eyes and freckles, and Alice Butcher, who had dark skin, black hair and brown eyes, as she waited for the bell to signal the end of lunch.

The three of them had already eaten and were enjoying the wonderful fresh air and cool spring breeze... but froze dead as they caught sight of Mark Stevens coming directly towards them. He was the one person that made staying in a boarding school a living hell. The reason? He had a huge crush on Linda and hated both Keira and Alice with a passion for "brainwashing her into hating him". Pathetic? Yes... but true.

In truth, Linda hated Mark because he was incredibly selfish, always wanting everything to go his way and treading on whoever he had to so it would.

"Heya, babycakes," he said to Linda, who merely rolled her eyes. He noticed this and cracked his knuckles at Keira and Alice threateningly.

"Ugh, for the last time, Mark, I'm not interested in you," Linda explained, thoroughly annoyed.

"Why not? What have they told you?" His fist loomed dangerously close to Keira's face.

Linda was seriously close to ripping her hair out. "Nothing! They've told me nothing! But they don't need to! I already know what you're like and I don't like it, Mark!"

"Yeah, so take a hike and leave our friend alone," Alice added, feeling a boost of confidence.

"You stay out of this, nigger!" Mark growled in her face.

Keira suddenly felt herself burn with rage so fierce, she could have sworn a power deep within her was threatening to break loose.

"_What did you call her_?" she bellowed to the heavens, her eyes glowing a vibrant yellow for a moment and dropping her books. Everyone, but Mark, who hadn't bothered to look at her, had seen it and was petrified. Instead, he sneered.

"You heard what I called her." He grabbed a fistful of Alice's school shirt and flung her across the yard, where she skidded painfully across the hard floor. "I called her a nigger!"

That did it. Keira exploded with righteous fury, yellow beams streaming from her hands and eyes, desecrating anything and everything they touched. Students were running and screaming in the masses, all scrambling to get away from the blasts, before a huge earthquake rocked the land, a gigantic crack creeping through the gravel.

"_Nobody's calls my friend a nigger_!" she screeched as several objects were blasted to pieces.

"Keira! Stop!" Linda screamed amongst the racket and, distantly, the blonde girl heard her and forced herself to stop.

The strain was too much for her body, however, and she collapsed onto her knees, her hands hitting the floor in front of her, shaking violently. Silence loomed as everyone emerged from their hiding places to inspect the damage and Alice, who the ruckus had been over, tentatively walked over to her fallen friend.

"K-Keira?"

Keira didn't respond. After the explosion, her mind had suddenly been flooded with memories that she hadn't known were there; memories of her life before high school.

She was born in a town called Marcovia with the name Tara Marcov and her father was filthy rich. She'd grown up rather selfish and spoilt, yet very fond of superhero comics, so, one day, when she'd had enough of a bully problem at her local school, she'd asked her father to buy her superpowers, knowing that he had enough money for it not to be a problem. This he did and a doctor injected them into her with a special unknown serum.

The next day, she went over to take care of the bully, but had lost control of her powers in the process, causing a tremendous earthquake and killing half the students in the school, including the bully. It devastated her, so she ran away to the other end of town, desperate to find herself a sanctuary to think things through, but the memories kept on flooding back... all the pain and anguish she'd caused... the amount of people she'd killed... This, unfortunately, resulted in a landslide, killing half the town. Henceforth, she was banished from Marcovia.

As she ran far away from her home town, under the alias 'Terra', which means 'earth' in Latin, she tried her best to find a new place to live and be happy, but, everywhere she went, something always happened to spark up a powerful emotion, be it happiness, affection, timidity, bravery, anger or anything else, thus causing either a landslide, an earthquake, a tornado or a mudslide to occur, killing many people and giving her many banishments.

She felt so lonely... and such an outcast from the rest the world... Eventually, she gave up trying to find a place to settle down and continued to travel endlessly and do whatever good she could along the way. That's when she came across the Teen Titans. They were so nice to her... giving her a place to stay. She hadn't thought they deserved her... She hadn't thought _anyone_ deserved her... and Beast Boy... he was so sweet... and it was obvious right from the words, "Hilarious? Me?" and the swaying and fainting on the spot that he had a crush on her. She'd felt so special being crushed on... In fact, she couldn't even remember the last time a boy had asked her out.

Then Beast Boy had discovered her secret and she made him promise not to tell a soul... If anyone knew, she'd be banished from Jump City too... and kicked out of Titans Tower... though she did think that would be for the best, in case anyone else was killed... She really wanted more than anything to do good... but all she'd ever managed to do was harm.

Then there was Slade. He'd promised her full control of her powers if she worked alongside him. Of course, she wanted nothing less than to work on the side of evil, but... what else was she to do? She'd known the Titans would never accept her if she didn't gain control, just like everyone else she'd come across didn't...

She'd declined the offer, but Beast Boy revealing her secret broke her heart... She'd actually started to crush on him too... Instead of being banished, she chose to run away, vowing to herself that, if she gained enough control, she'd definitely come back... As she sat in her cave just outside the city, she pondered Slade's offer... and decided it was the only thing she could do in order to have a normal life... and instead of having to locate him, she found him standing at her cave entrance. That's when she decided to accept his offer, hating herself for it, but knowing she had no other choice.

There was a catch, as she knew there would be. He made her promise that, once she had finished her vigorous training with him, she would go back to the Teen Titans and be his spy whilst in their home. She couldn't believe she was hearing this, but his language was very persuasive... ("Oh, so I guess you _want_ to live your life running, everyone hating you, _despising_ you, for your lack of control?") Her emotions got the better of her, so, tears streaking freely down her face, she shook her head and accepted his offer.

Once the training had ceased, she'd done as instructed, Slade concocting a plan to gain her the Titans' full trust by helping them save the day... including Raven's, who was more difficult to persuade than the others. Finally, once all was over, her betrayal began.

Eventually, when Beast Boy had asked her on that date, she was flattered, but wasn't sure whether or not to accept it... She didn't feel she deserved him and felt ashamed to have to deceive him like that... but, in the end, she couldn't resist him and accepted.

It was the best night of her life... and she was certain she'd fallen head over heels in love with him, just as he seemed to have done with her... That's what made it all the more painful to discover his reaction to her being Slade's apprentice. He hated her... the one person who said he trusted her more than anyone he'd ever met hated her... and she hated him for it.

Love has a funny way of putting you on cloud nine one minute, then crashing you back down to Earth the next... and, if the boy who loved her so dearly could hate her so callously for something she hadn't wanted to do, but had virtually no choice in doing, then she could have only imagined how much the others would have hated her. It was the last straw. Time to get even.

Of course, her original plan hadn't been to _kill_ the Titans... all she wanted to do was dish out some serious payback... but the words Slade poured into her made her change her mind. ("They don't like you... they _never_ liked you... They only _pretended_ to like you because they pitied you... There are no such things as friends... people turn on you when you need them the most... They're just like everyone else... they deserve to die...")

It had taken a little convincing, but she had eventually accepted everything he'd said... and tried to kill the Teen Titans to rid herself of her constant thirst for sweet revenge. She'd thoroughly enjoyed beating them up and watching them all die... Well, she'd _thought_ they'd died... She'd discovered soon after, when taking control of the city and reminiscing without a trace of remorse, just grim pleasure, that the team were surprisingly resilient.

Defeated, she'd run to Slade for help... only to be beaten mercilessly, as he didn't tolerate failure... That was when she'd realised the cold, hard truth. It was never the Teen Titans who only pretended to like her... it was never the Teen Titans who turned on her when she needed them the most... it was Slade.

She'd been a fool to ever consider Slade her friend... She'd tried to fight back, but the suit he gave her allowed him full control of her actions from then on... and she'd almost killed the love of her life because of it.

Fortunately, though, her mind had overpowered her body and she'd managed to turn against Slade, accidentally killing him in the process. The only dilemma was she'd erupted a volcano... and only she had the power to stop it... so, hoping immensely that this would compensate for her incredible foolishness previously, she sacrificed her own life drying out the molten lava, turning herself into a stone statue.

Breathing heavily and shaking terribly, the blonde girl pushed herself up from the floor, every eye upon her.

"A-Are you okay, Keira?" Alice asked timidly from beside her.

The girl blinked tears from her eyes, which then rolled down her cheeks. "My name's not Keira," she replied.

Alice's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"I remember everything... My name's Tara... or Terra, as Beast Boy put it..." She then froze, eyes widening. "Beast Boy! I have to go and see him! Right now!"

In an instant, she was off and out the front gates, hurtling in the direction of Titans Tower and cursing herself for not keeping Beast Boy's pocket communicator.

It took quite a lot of running, and fast walking when she could no longer run, and slow walking when she could no longer fast-walk, but she finally made it, panting and out of breath. There, in front of her, on its little island, was the almighty Titans' Tower.

One problem; how to get over there? She'd spent so long in her average lifestyle, she couldn't remember exactly how to control her powers. Though she _had_ managed to stop them on command, she wasn't taking any chances. Suddenly remembering Beast Boy had very acute hearing, she took in a huge gulp of air and screamed out his name as loud as possible.

"BEAST BOY!"

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The green changeling of the Teen Titans was lying on his front room couch, peacefully snoozing away, the extraordinarily large television playing very quietly at the front of the room. He'd been partway through a rerun of Danger Team 5 when his lack of sleep earlier that day had caught up with him.

It was Robin's fault. The guy has a dream that Slade's attacking the tower with an army of robotic monsters, jumps awake at four in the morning, freaks out about it and demands they begin training immediately, just in case it _does_ happen...

Beast Boy's dream was just taking him into a world of cocktails, a bubbling hot Jacuzzi and a swarm of gorgeous, bikini-clad girls, when, out of nowhere, a scream erupted.

"BEAST BOY!"

He jerked awake and fell straight off the couch, banging his head on the carpet-laid floor. Getting up again and brushing himself off, he realised that the scream sounded awfully familiar...

"BEAST BOY!"

There it was again... and it sounded awfully like...

"Terra?" he asked just above a whisper.

"BEAST BOY!"

Intrigued, he rushed over the window, which automatically swished open, and jumped out, morphing into an eagle and flying towards the coastline of the city, the window closing again behind him. Flying towards the city very slowly, his acute vision caught sight of shiny blonde hair blowing swiftly in the light breeze. Excited, he descended towards her.

He landed next to her and morphed back, but, before he could say anything, she'd screamed, "Oh my God! Beast Boy!" and jumped on him, squeezing the life out of him.

"Ack! Terra?" he inquired, utterly bewildered at her actions. It was then that she let go of him, positively beaming. He smiled sheepishly. "Or, rather, the girl I like to _call_ Terra?"

"It's okay, Beast Boy, you can call me Terra! I remember _everything_!"

He blinked at her, mouth opening and closing, at a complete loss for words.

She giggled. "What's the matter, BB? Cat got your tongue? I remember _everything_! I remember meeting you... I remember running away from you... I remember coming back... I remember betraying you... I remember going on a date with you... I remember you hating me and me hating you... I remember trying to kill you... and I remember saving you. I remember it all!"

It only took a couple of seconds to gain a reaction. After that, the loving sparkle in Beast Boy's emerald eyes that had long since died was rekindled and the biggest grin the world has ever seen appeared on his face.

He leapt on her, crushing her in his embrace, crying, "Oh my God! You remember! You remember! Oh, Terra, you remember!"

The two of them burst out laughing, Terra wrapping her arms around Beast Boy, tears streaking from both pairs of eyes. Eventually, though, after about five minutes of this, they broke apart, beaming at one another.

"Oh, you have _got_ to come with me to see the rest of the Titans!" Beast Boy insisted.

Terra was hesitant. "Oh... I dunno... I'm already dangerously late for Chemistry..."

Beast Boy waved a gloved hand in dismissal. "It's okay. I'll just explain that you were helping the Teen Titans take down some bad guys. Who knows? Your teacher may give you extra credit for it."

Terra giggled heartily and lightly punched him on the shoulder. "Well, okay then... since you're _so_ hard to resist."

Ah, no one could make him feel sexy and irresistible like Terra could.

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"No _way_!" Cyborg proclaimed as he looked over Terra.

"This just isn't _possible_!" Robin added as he walked around her.

"This is some sort of dream, yes?" Starfire asked as she continually prodded the protesting schoolgirl.

"Nope," Beast Boy announced proudly. "She's as real as _we_ are." There was a slight pause as a grin spread on the changeling's face. "And I told you so! I told you so! And you wouldn't believe me!" he sang merrily. However, he paused when he noticed Raven, who currently had her hood down, being very quiet.

"What?" she asked, staring straight at him.

"Uh, why haven't _you_ freaked out about Terra's return?" Everyone turned to stare at her, questioning looks in their eyes.

Raven turned away. "Because... because I'm the one that resurrected her."

"_What_?" everyone screeched at once, all ceasing what they were doing to gawk at her.

"Then why did you tell us that nothing you had tried had succeeded?" Starfire asked curiously.

"Yeah, why?" Cyborg intoned.

"And when, exactly, did you do this?" Robin added.

Raven sighed heavily before replying, "I did it the exact same night she became a statue... using a spell I found in one of my ancient spell books... and I didn't tell anybody because I already knew that there would be a side effect of amnesia, which I could do nothing about..." She sighed again. "I thought it was the best thing to do to just let her get on with her life while we got on with ours... I even invented the name Keira Hendrix for her, wrote it on a piece of paper and stuck it to her clothing to give her a new identity..." Beast Boy glared at her. "And you can't call it a selfish act either. Honestly, if someone came up to you and said you'd joined forces with Slade in your past life and tried to take over the city, how would you take it?"

"Uh... I... wouldn't like it?" Beast Boy asked.

"Exactly. Besides, in all honesty... I still didn't completely trust her, amnesia or not, for what she'd done... and another side effect of the spell was that you could end up a whole different person from the one you originally were."

"The anchovies!"

"Oh yeah..." Terra said thoughtfully. "You said I used to like anchovies, but, now, I'm allergic to them."

"But now that Beast Boy has _ever-so kindly_ told Terra the truth about her past life," Raven said with a hint of sarcasm, "what do we do?"

Robin laid a brotherly hand on Terra's shoulder, smiling kindly. "Well, I know Raven did that with the best intentions... but, now that you know the truth, we can help you out."

"How so?" Terra asked, slightly confused.

"You've probably lost most control over your powers again, because of the amnesia, right?"

"Right..."

"But, looking at your uniform, I'd say you still have school to attend, right?"

"Right..."

"Well, how about I give you a spare communicator and, when you have a fair amount of free time at school, call one of us to come and pick you up. We'll bring you to Titans Tower and give you some personal training. How does that sound?"

Terra's eyes lit up like the lights of Las Vegas while all the other Titans nodded their approval. "Oh, yeah! I'd love that! Thanks!"

"And you can come to stay in your vacation time!" Beast Boy chirped, which earned him another bear hug off the girl he treasured so dearly.

So, from that day forward, one could say Terra was declared an official Teen Titan, though only spending time with them when she could. Well, Beast Boy was certainly overjoyed about it... but whatever happened to Mark Stevens? He was severely punished for use of such rotten language and eventually came to the realisation that Linda would never like him back, meaning no more selfishness, no more bullying and a lot more friends.


End file.
